Trust In God And Keep Your Powder Dry

According to a piece in Time, Pope Francis is, on the matter of Syria, allied with the angels of peace:

“Pope Francis’ response to Syria is in line with how his predecessors handled international conflicts. Pope Benedict XVI expressed concerns over the military intervention in Libya. Pope John Paul II continually and strongly spoke out against the US-led war in Iraq. The US and the Vatican squared off during the 1989 Panama invasion when Dictator Manuel Noriega took refuge in the Vatican embassy.”

There is nothing surprising in the pope’s declaration. The possible persecution of Catholics, should President Obama intervene militarily in what has now become a religious war between Islamic sects in Syria, adds yet another dimension to the pope’s plea for peace.

Somewhat like Chicago politicians, radical Salafists in the Middle East – i.e. members of the Muslim Brotherhood – are not inclined to let a crisis go to waste.

In Egypt – and everywhere else the Muslim Brotherhood has taken root – armed militants have decimated Christian churches. That pattern will repeat itself in Syria unless the Muslim Brotherhood, a pan-national religious movement, is successfully frustrated.

It is doubtful that any American response that has been proposed as a military retort to the use of chemical weapons in Syria will deter Salafists from brutally attacking Christians.

In the absence of an ameliorating response, praying for peace is the only powder at the disposal of Christians under persecution by Muslims in the Middle East.

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